Oral History Project

In the year 2000 Waterford County Archive Service started an Oral History Project for Waterford County with funding provided by Waterford County Council.

The project was begun in order to record the memories of people living in Waterford and to keep these memories of the people and places of Waterford alive for future generations. The recordings give life to written facts, create a record of the effects of local and national events in the County and also record details of the daily lives of people that may otherwise be lost forever.

Recordings began in February 2001. The recordings are available in full at the County Archive. Each of the recordings is transcribed to ensure that if those listening miss a word or two they can read through the transcription to find out exactly what was said.

A CD Listening Post (funded by the Heritage Council) has been placed in the reception area of the Civic Offices and will allow members of the public to listen to snippets of some of the recordings made and will highlight some of the themes of the recordings to date. The County Mayor, Lola O'Sullivan, launched the Waterford County Oral History Project on Monday 2nd September 2002.

The recordings will allow people access to information that would otherwise be lost to them and to future generations. It is intended to continue to run the project and to develop an ever-expanding record of the people living in County Waterford and of life in County Waterford as it changes and develops.

This is an ongoing project and recordings will continue to be made and added to the collection. If you would like to take part in this project contact the Archivist.